Shekau to Buhari: ‘Stop telling lies, Boko Haram still intact’

The leader of the dreaded sect, Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau has resurfaced in a new video , saying the claims by the Federal Government that his group has been routed from Sambisa Forest is a ruse.

In the video posted on Thursday on Youtube, the Boko Haram insurgent group through its leader, Shekau said, “We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere. And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location except if Allah wills by his decree.”

Flanked by masked armed fighters, the elusive Shekau added that President Muhammadu Buhari should not be distorting the real situation of things as they regard the fight against terrorism in the northeast.

“You should not be telling lies to the people. If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?” he asked.

Shekau last appeared in a video in September where he disputed a claim by the Nigerian military that he had been wounded in battle.

While vowing to continue fighting on until an Islamic state was imposed in northern Nigeria, he added that “Our aim is to establish an Islamic Caliphate and we have our own Caliphate, we are not part of Nigeria.”

The Federal Government had announced that a months-long military campaign in the 1,300 square-kilometre (500 square-mile) forest in northeastern Borno state had led to the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest”.